Two weeks to raise £5,000 - or Ark Animal Centre could close its gates forever

Sue Rice, who runs The Ark Animal Rescue and Retirement Home, in North Somercotes, who has been served a noise abatement order due to barking dogs. Sue is pictured with Pilot. (Image: Rick Byrne / Grimsbylive)

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The hearing has begun, however, and legal costs have taken a toll on the centre, costing it £1,380. The sound report is expected to cost a further £5,200.

This report must be completed before the next hearing in May.

Susan Rice, manager of The Ark Animal Rescue Centre, told GrimsbyLive: "We only have until March 15 to raise the funds required for the expert's report ready for the next hearing in May."

Joe Pepper, a commercial solicitor at Bridge McFarland who represented the shelter at Boston Magistrates' Court, urged the charity's supporters not to give up hope.

"The charity does wonderful work and it is my hope that we can reach a settlement with the local authority. We don't want to see the charity or the local authority facing unnecessary legal fees," he said.

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"The focus for the Ark will now be raising sufficient funds to cover the costs of a noise specialist needed in order to support the appeal against the notice.

The centre needs more money to ensure it stays open (Image: Rick Byrne / Grimsbylive)

"The Ark has launched a crowdfunding page on February 21 which has already raised over £3,000 towards the legal costs. However we would ask that everyone who wants to help us either make a donation to that page, or share it with friends and family to help spread the word."

On the crowdfunding page, Sue said: "If we are to win this case, The Ark's future would be more secure, enabling us to carry on re-homing hundreds of animals per year.

"If we lost the case, we would have to close our current re-homing kennels and raise substantial funds to replicate these kennels in a different location on site, being further away from complainant.

"If these funds cannot be raised, this could mean The Ark closing our gates forever."